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Ubisoft says it’s changing strategy to focus on more ‘high-end free-to-play’ games

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
“In line with the evolution of our high-quality line-up that is increasingly diverse, we are moving on from our prior comment regarding releasing 3-4 premium AAAs per year,” said Ubisoft’s chief financial officer Frederick Duguet.

“It is indeed no longer a proper indication of our value creation dynamics. For example, our expectation for Just Dance and Riders Republic are consistent with some of the industry’s AAA performers.

“Additionally, we are building high-end free-to-play games to be trending towards AAA ambitions over the long-term,” he added. This is purely a financial communication evolution and doesn’t change the fact that we continue to expect a high cadence of content delivery including powerful premium and free-to-play new releases.”


Disappointing to say the least. Ubisoft was one of the few third party publishers releasing AAA single player games. I wont lie, I didnt care for any of their games in the last few years, but this just goes to show how important Sony and Nintendo are to this industry, and why the Bethesda/zenimax acquisition was so important. Third parties will always chase trends and fads.
 
I thought this is pretty major news given Ubi’s stature in this industry. Another one bites the dust, you could say for many of us who still love sp games.


“In line with the evolution of our high-quality line-up that is increasingly diverse, we are moving on from our prior comment regarding releasing 3-4 premium AAAs per year,” said Ubisoft’s chief financial officer Frederick Duguet.

“It is indeed no longer a proper indication of our value creation dynamics. For example, our expectation for Just Dance and Riders Republic are consistent with some of the industry’s AAA performers.

“Additionally, we are building high-end free-to-play games to be trending towards AAA ambitions over the long-term,” he added.

“This is purely a financial communication evolution and doesn’t change the fact that we continue to expect a high cadence of content delivery including powerful premium and free-to-play new releases.”
 

Tutomos

Member
A lot of AAA games will be free-to-play in the future. Any multiplayer games you see on Game Pass like the rumoured Battlefield VI is just a guise to be free-to-play. In the future, those games will skip gaming subscriptions and just be free-to-play altogether.
 

Stuart360

Gold Member
and doesn’t change the fact that we continue to expect a high cadence of content delivery including powerful premium and free-to-play new releases.”

It sounds like we will still be getting the big AAA releases, but some F2P games mixed in.
I'd still expect the Assassins Creed's, Far Cry's, to stay the same as they still sell huge, but games like WatchDogs, and to a lesser extent The Division, have underperformed a touch, so maybe the next versions of those games will be F2P.

I wouldnt worry too much to be honest.
 

kretos

Banned
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Audiophile

Member
Was hyped for the reveals of WATCH_DOGS, GR: Wildlands & The Division; and they all turned out dull and underwhelming. Then they robbed Assassin's Creed of all of its soul, charm, identity and atmosphere. I'm just indifferent to them at this point anyway. They used to be exciting and innovative, now they're just a breeding ground for perpetual disappointment.

Only modicum of hope I have is Far Cry 6 stepping up the game or one of the next two AC games going back to its roots with a rich next-gen experience. Aside from that, eh...
 
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Stuart360

Gold Member
I swear I've read this statement by them several times by now.
They did say the same thing a few years ago when one of their big releases underperformed (cant remember which one). So yeah dont look too much into this, and like i said i would still expect the big sellers like Assassins Creed and Far Cry to stay premium.
 

VN1X

Banned
Lol the doom and gloom from some of you. Are we now pretending that Ubi hasn't been shitting out the same damn game for years on end now? Whether it's AC, Far Cry, Tom Clancy, etc they all adhere to the exact same formulas and get incredibly stale after the first few hours. Sure they have the occasional outlier like Mario + Rabbids or Fenyx Rising (which are both great btw) but otherwise I'm glad they'll be pumping out less boring-homogenic-cookie-cutter-by-the-numbers collectathons which are designed by committee to to the nth degree. Even if we're still getting the same crap from them I'd rather have those titles be less frequent and polished to a sheen, brimming with content to boot. If their free-to-play titles can stand up to that same quality or help them put more resources in the remaining AAA offering then by all means, go Ubi!
 

Saber

Gold Member
No surprises here. Ubisoft and EA are the bitchs/simps of games. They go for the trend and where theres smell of easy money.

And the trend nowadays is microtransactions/gatchas over free games. Lure the fish with the term "free" and then kill them with micros.
 
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Makes sense. Studios make a ton of money with less effort than a highly detailed triple A game. And more people are likely to spend little money on an addictive game like Fall Guys than $70 on something like Returnal.
 

Mokus

Member
So from now on they won't charge anymore full retail price for their "high-end free-to-play" games?
 

Agent X

Member
That's a shame. I haven't bought too many Ubisoft games lately, but they do put out some cool stuff every now and then.

Still no new Rayman or ports of the old ones?

They haven't done a new Rayman for a few years.

To be honest, the Rayman games that they made for mobile phones and tablets are fairly good. They use a similar art and animation style as Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends. The mobile games are no substitute for "big" games like Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends, but they're fun little diversions on their own.
 
Assassin's Creed Royale.

I'll put my life on it.

Someone should inform Ubisoft that Genshin Impact makes all its money selling "deeply offensive and sexist" Waifu's, they're never going to make that kind of money selling nonbinary trans folk in Immortals.

Go woke...go....they never learn. Sadly.

Same with Hollywood. These fools won't be happy until they have driven every popular franchise into the ground.
 
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kyussman

Member
I still really enjoy Far Cry and Assassin's Creed......hopefully I can continue to enjoy those two as single player games.....everything else Ubisoft these days is pretty much the opposite of what I enjoy about video games.
 
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